Former professional boxer and rugby league star Anthony Mundine shared a video on his Instagram Story on Wednesday of a man claiming Halloween was a “pagan, devil-worshipping festival.”
The 49-year-old Australian has often shared his opinions on a wide range of topics online and recently took to Instagram to share views on women’s health and wellbeing.
But with Halloween now eight days away, former fifth-eighth St George Illawarra Dragons and Brisbane Broncos have shared their views on the holiday, appearing to condemn the annual festival of fear.
The former soccer star reposted a video from @Gemsofshaykhutman on Instagram, adding a heart emoji and an “open hands” emoji.
In the video, a man appears to address a camera and appears to answer the question: ‘Can we celebrate Halloween?’
The man says, ‘If you’re a Christian, if you’re a Muslim, if you’re a Jew, if you believe in God, you can’t celebrate Halloween.’
‘This is a pagan festival of devil worship that came from Samhain, where they beautified the satans, the demons. They would take care of the geniuses.
‘This is something that is prohibited in all religious traditions. As a Muslim, don’t even think about letting your children go looking for candy from a stranger.
‘All year long you tell your children not to go get candy from strangers. And then on this day, you tell them to go to absolutely random people and tell them to take candy from them. You don’t know what they’ve done to that candy.
He added: “The CDC says you are four times more likely to have your children hit by a car than any other night of the year.” This is something haram and prohibited in all religious traditions.
‘This is something, a night where they used to play with the genies and mess with the genies and that’s why we see so many reports of people having problems with the genies after this. “This is a night to stay home, spend some time with your family and not mess with Halloween.”
Mundine made 116 appearances for the Dragons and 18 for the Broncos during his rugby league career.
He would also represent New South Wales in three Origin Tests, but would hang up his boots in 2000 and instead pursue a career in boxing.
The former football star would enjoy a distinguished boxing career, holding the WBA super middleweight title twice during his career and the IBO middleweight title, with a record of 48-11-0, knocking out to 28 of his opponents.
Anthony Mundie appeared to repost a video on his Instagram Story that claimed Halloween was a “pagan devil-worshipping festival,” adding a heart emoji and an “open hands” emoji.
Two years ago, the 49-year-old had revealed why he had chosen to convert from Christianity to Islam in 1999, stating that he had found Christianity too complex to understand.
“The country (Australia) was colonized and Christianity was imposed on our people,” Mundine said.
‘I wanted to really dig deep and see what their core belief is.
‘They believe in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and all that. Three types of separate identities, not three, but one.
“And really, it was confusing for me.”
Mundine had never smoked, drank alcohol or taken drugs during his life, which he said made the switch to Islam easy.
“That came in like a glove,” he said. “I needed to feed that soul inside me and when I got that (from Islam) that was it.”
Mundine has often shared her views on a variety of topics on social media and recently appeared to offer advice to women about their health and well-being.
Mundine, one of Australia’s top athletes, recently gained attention after sharing a video on Instagram of user Lauren Taylor, who talked about how drinking pickle juice had helped her relieve the pain she experienced from menstrual cramps.
“The ladies thank me later,” the former boxing champion posted.